Mark Zuckerberg Apologizes to Teens and Families Victimized on Social Media

It began with a video. A video of teenagers talking about how they were sexually exploited on social media. A video that showed parents holding photos of their children who died by suicide as a result of social media. “Big tech failed to protect my child," says one parent. “Big tech failed to protect me,” states a teenager. “It’s not too late to do something about it," says another.

In a hearing room packed with those families and victims, that emotional video set the tone for what would be a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on January 31 entitled, “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis." In a rare show of bipartisanship, both Democrat and Republican lawmakers trying "to do something about it" faced off with the CEOs of five of the world's biggest social media companies.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok CEO Shou Chew have testified before Congress in the past and appeared voluntarily at the hearing. But as Committee Chairman Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) indicated, X CEO Linda Yaccarino, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, and Discord CEO Jason Citron had to be subpoenaed to appear. In fact, Sen. Durbin says Citron only agreed to come after U.S. Marshals served that subpoena.

The most stunning moment came about two hours in when Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) pressed Zuckerberg about whether he thought those who had faced abuse on social media and their families should be compensated. As Senator Hawley prompted the families in the hearing room to hold up photos of their loved ones, he said, "Would you like to apologize for what you’ve done to these good people?"

Zuckerberg then stood up and turned to the full hearing room. “I’m sorry for everything you’ve all gone through,” he said. “Nobody should have to go through what your families have suffered. This is why we have invested so much and are going to continue industry-leading efforts to make sure that no one has to go through the types of things your families have suffered.”

The hearing was a back-and-forth of the CEOs explaining all of the things they say they are doing to protect children and teens—and the lawmakers pushing back, saying it's not enough.

"Their design choices, their failures to adequately invest in trust and safety, and their constant pursuit of engagement and profit over basic safety have all put our kids and grandkids at risk,” Chairman Durbin said in his opening statement in describing the social media platforms.

The Senator talked about the dangers when it comes to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and exploitation. ”With a touch of your finger, that smartphone that can entertain and inform you—can become a back alley where the lives of your children are damaged and destroyed,” he says.

Ranking Member Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) echoed a similar sentiment.

"Social media companies as they are currently designed and operated are dangerous products," he said. "They're destroying lives, threatening democracy itself. These companies must be reined in or the worst is yet to come."

To cheers from the crowd in the room, Graham didn't mince his words saying, "Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us, I know you don't mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands. You have a product that’s killing people."

Social Media CEOs Defend Their Protection Practices

After remarks from the Chairman and the Ranking Member, the CEOs each delivered their opening statements. One by one they outlined what their companies are doing to protect children and teens online.

Zuckerberg says Meta, which is currently facing a lawsuit from 33 Attorneys General across the United States, has built 30 different tools, resources, and features for parents to do things like set time limits and see who they are following.

"Being a parent is one of the hardest jobs in the world," says Zuckerberg. "Technology gives us new ways to communicate with our kids and feel connected to their lives. But it can also make parenting more complicated...We are on the side of parents everywhere working hard to raise their kids."

Citron says Discord has made a major investment by taking over a company to identify, ban, and report criminals and bad behavior. He says they don't believe in encryption because it would block their ability to investigate situations. They also have a zero-tolerance policy on CSAM.

"More than 60% of our active users are between the ages of 13 and 24," Citron says. "It's why safety is built into everything we do. It's essential to our mission and business. And most of all, this is deeply personal. I'm a dad with two kids. I want Discord to be a product that they use and live. And I want them to be safe on Discord." 

For Snap, Spiegel says images and videos can be saved by the recipient in case there is a report to be made and law enforcement is involved. He says they also scan for inappropriate content and remove and block that content. Spiegel encourages parents to use parental controls on their children's devices.

"Even with our strict privacy settings, content moderation efforts, proactive detection, and law enforcement collaboration, bad things can still happen when people use online services," explains Spiegel. "That's why we believe people under the age of 13 are not ready to communicate on Snapchat."

TikTok's CEO Shou Chew says the average age of users in the U.S. is over 30 years old, but he does recognize that there are younger users.

"As a father of three young children myself, I know the issues we are discussing today are horrific and the nightmare of every parent," Chew explains. "I am proud of our efforts to address the threats to young people online from a commitment to protecting them to our industry-leading policies, use of innovative technology, and significant ongoing investments to achieve this goal."

The CEO of X says her company will be "active and a part of this solution." Yaccarino adds they do not have a line of business dedicated to children, and like her counterparts, children under 13 are not allowed to open an account.

"X is not the platform of choice for children and teens," she explains. "Less than 1% of the U.S. users on X are between the ages of 13-17. Those users are automatically set to a private default setting and cannot accept a message from anyone they do not approve."

What Is the Status of the Laws?

Two main themes permeated throughout the hearing: the need to update or repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and whether the CEOs are in support of the five online protection bills the Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously approved.

What is section 230 of the Communications Decency Act?

Section 230 was added as part of the Communications Decency Act in 1996 at a time when cell phones were just gaining popularity and the internet was in its infancy. In a nutshell, the statute protects internet-based companies from liability for user-generated content. That means they cannot be sued.

“For the past 30 years, Section 230 has remained largely unchanged, allowing Big Tech to grow into the most profitable industry in the history of capitalism without fear of liability for unsafe practices," Senator Durbin said. "That must change."

Senator Graham said of anyone that could be given blanket liability, the social media companies would be the last group he would pick, calling for a repeal of Section 230.

"Open up the courthouse door. Until you do that, nothing will change," Senator Graham said. "Until these people can be sued for the damage they're doing, it is all talk."

Which laws did the CEOs commit to supporting?

In the divided political climate this country is in, it is rare to find bipartisan support for anything. But in this Senate Judiciary Committee, five bills have been unanimously advanced surrounding the protection of children online and social media regulation.

• The STOP CSAM Act: This bill supports victims and increases accountability and transparency for online platforms.
• The EARN IT Act: This bill deals with Section 230, and would remove the immunity tech has from civil and criminal liability under child sexual abuse material laws. It will also establish a National Commission on Online Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention.
• The SHIELD Act: This would ensure federal prosecutors have the necessary tools to address the nonconsensual distribution of sexual imagery.
• The Project Safe Childhood Act: This would modernize the investigation and prosecution of online child exploitation crimes.
• The REPORT Act: This bill would establish new procedures to help strengthen the reporting of online child sexual exploitation to the CyberTipline.

You may have also heard about the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced through a different committee. This bill also came up during today's hearing.

It lays out requirements to protect children from online harm. It says platforms have to take measures to prevent and mitigate things like sexual exploitation and online bullying. It also says platforms have to restrict access to minors' personal data and give parents the tools to supervise their children while using the app.

During the hearing, the CEOs faced questions about which of these potential laws they would support.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino was the most open to supporting new laws. She said her company supports both the SHIELD Act and the Stop CSAM Act, but was a bit less firm on KOSA at first, saying it "should continue to progress." Later when questioned by Senator Blumenthal, she did say she supports KOSA.

The CEO of Snap Evan Speigel says the company supports KOSA, and another bill called the Cooper Davis Act, which has to do with the illegal sale of drugs online.

Zuckerberg, Citron, and Chew did not commit to supporting any of the proposed bills. None of the CEOs said they would support amending or repealing Section 230 either.

"If you're waiting on these guys to solve the problem, we're gonna die waiting," said Senator Graham.

What's Next?

What's next is a great question. The lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee are looking to lobby their colleagues in the wider Senate and bring these new laws to a full vote. To end the hearing, Ranking Member Durbin reiterated the bipartisanship it took to pass these five bills unanimously. He says parents and grandparents are relying on them to get something done.

But lawmakers also need the support of big tech, which has lobbying firms holding up some of this legislation. That's why this hearing was critical.

Perhaps Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) illustrated it best with this analogy:

"When a Boeing plane lost a door in mid-flight several weeks ago, nobody questioned the decision to ground a fleet of over 700 planes. So why aren’t we taking the same type of decisive action on the danger of these platforms when we know these kids are dying?"